Reimagining “The Dark Knight Rises”

Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Trilogy” will always be highly regarded by both Batman fanatics and general audiences, so I think there’s been more than enough praise that it wouldn’t hurt the legacy of the trilogy if I gripe a bit more about the flaws in the third film. In my article, “Batman: The Christopher Nolan Years,” my biggest grievance was with the portrayal of Miranda Tate / Talia Al Ghul. I knew that Marion Cotillard was Talia before the movie even opened and I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one. Even you weren’t familiar with the character, you must have realized that she was shady like a villainous Bond Girl. Why does there have to be a twist? Why can’t the story be told in a straightforward manner? Talia should really have been exposed by Batman, since he is a detective, and it should have occurred in the first half of the film. “The Dark Knight Rises” could still have opened with the impressive airplane sequence, but reimagined.

Hypothetically, Bane could be transported from one maximum security prison to another and set free by the few remaining members of The League of Shadows, who are now following Talia’s lead. Talia was aware of Bane exploits because he was once a member of The League and ex-communicated for being too extreme, so that part of his backstory remains the same. The price of Bane’s freedom is him being sent to Gotham to cripple Batman and lead the Blackgate Penitentiary break. Bane is eager to accept this charge because he wants Batman’s cowl as a trophy like on the animated series. And how about a few popular members of the Rogues Gallery make an appearance during the prison break? I love The Scarecrow making a cameo as the judge. Of course, all of this is a distraction for Talia to smuggle a nuclear weapon into the city. The heck with the clean energy device. A movie doesn’t need to be so convoluted to be successful. In my own humble opinion, this screenplay was trying way too hard to be clever. And I still don’t know why Batman went out of his way to make people think he died in the nuclear blast or how he cleared the blast radius in under five seconds? Did “the bat” come equipped a teleportation devise? Another unnecessary twist. But, I digress. If the villain’s scheme had been streamlined, then the film could have focused more on the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.

As I said in my previous article, I really enjoyed Anne Hathaway’s performance, but since Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne was such a curmudgeon, I don’t think they’ll live happily ever after. She might get bored with him. That’s why I still prefer the Michael Keaton / Michelle Pfeiffer “destined to end tragically” romance in “Batman Returns.” That’s right, I’m complimenting “Batman Returns.” Take that, Kevin Smith. Since “The Dark Knight Rise,” we have seen the polarizing Mandarin twist in “Iron Man 3” and another swerve in “Star Trek Into Darkness” with Benedict Cumberbatch denying during promotions that was portraying Khan. What’s with these summer blockbusters? I keep expecting the M. Night Shyamalan doll from “Robot Chicken” to pop up and say “What a twist!”